i5 vs 955

[Twist86]

So I been thinking of upgrading my system as of late. I need a 3.6ghz+ chip for my emulator and I want to get a SATA3 board for the upcoming SSDs.
The real reason behind the upgrade however is I want to give my old setup to my mother and if things go well in the next month I will have $300-$400 in gift cards coming I can sell for upgrade cash Gotta love free money.
The question is which is better? I know it will be but a step up and not be noticeable to me but this is not really the point.

Default items for both.
Cooler Tuniq Tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154014
Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231180

AMD selection
955
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...808&cm_re=Phenom_II_x4-_-19-103-808-_-Product
Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131646

Vs
i5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215&Tpk=i5-750
Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131620

Difference being $75 between the two. BTW never OC on AMD....is it the same with Intel or is it more memory demanding?

 

[spynoodle]

Just one suggestion: if you go for the i5, get the 760, not the 750:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067&cm_re=i5_760-_-19-115-067-_-Product
I would get the i5 personally. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think i5s overclock better than the Phenoms, and the 760 is a bit faster than the 955 to begin with.

 

[Twist86]

Yeah meant to link that thanks for the catch.

 

[maroon1]

i5 is faster out of the two

 

[linkin]

I vote i5 as well if you can afford it.

 

[Twist86]

Yeah I pretty much thought so...I figure I will do that.


I am curious what is a good board with x16 x16 for GPU and still maintain a full link for SATA3? After a little research I see if I use the PCI slots up and the SATA3 will go to "regular mode" not sure what that means exactly.
Anyone see this board? Is the x16 slots actually x16 x16 when dual GPUing or is it x8 x8?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130296

 

[jasonn20]

what do you use your machine for mostly... the amd x6 would not be a bad a bad choice it has alot of multitasking power for video encoding, dvd creation type things... but you will have to find compatible programs that will utilize all the cores... love my x6 ..

edit**
If this was an option of AMD x6 vs i5 I would pick the x6..... The amd x6 has a better/revised memory controller over the x4 Phenom II's, overclock very well (majority 4 ghz), software is getting more support for the x6, and it has more multitasking power than the i5...

The i5 has stronger single threaded performance core for core clock for clock than AMD... multitasking is more important to me and gaming...

just a suggestion...